What is morphological computation? On how the body contributes to cognition and control

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21230%2F17%3A00308669" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21230/17:00308669 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1162/ARTL_a_00219" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1162/ARTL_a_00219</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ARTL_a_00219" target="_blank" >10.1162/ARTL_a_00219</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

What is morphological computation? On how the body contributes to cognition and control

Original language description

The contribution of the body to cognition and control in natural and artificial agents is increasingly described as “offloading computation from the brain to the body,” where the body is said to perform “morphological computation.” Our investigation of four characteristic cases of morphological computation in animals and robots shows that the “offloading” perspective is misleading. Actually, the contribution of body morphology to cognition and control is rarely computational, in any useful sense of the word. We thus distinguish (1) morphology that facilitates control, (2) morphology that facilitates perception, and the rare cases of (3) morphological computation proper, such as reservoir computing, where the body is actually used for computation. This result contributes to the understanding of the relation between embodiment and computation: The question for robot design and cognitive science is not whether computation is offloaded to the body, but to what extent the body facilitates cognition and control—how it contributes to the overall orchestration of intelligent behavior.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Artificial Life

ISSN

1064-5462

e-ISSN

1530-9185

Volume of the periodical

23

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

24

Pages from-to

1-24

UT code for WoS article

000395587600001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85014107071